Consider the Heart
by Cable Fraga
Summary: 1st Season kids are now in college, life has been relatively normal so far. However, something happens on the way to Kari's graduation party. Please R
1. Revelations and Suprises

Izzumi (Izzy) Koushiro was struggling to breath. He clenched his neck muscles to make as much room for his airway as possible, however it wasn't working. He meekly used his computer-softened hands to pull at the arm that was forcing his trachea shut.

"Tai…" Izzy coughed.

"C'mon, Izzy, spill it!" Tai leaned in on Izzy's back.

"Can't… talk…" Izzy spat.

Tai loosened his hold and chuckled, "Sorry, Izz…" he tapped Izzy's back, "Guess I don't know my own strength." He flexed his arms for his own benefit.

Izzy clasped his throat and rolled his eyes, "no kidding." He loosened his collar of the button down shirt that he was wearing underneath his dark suit. He took a couple of deep breaths stretching his neck and turned to look at his tormentor. They had been friends for so long, and now they were in college, sharing a room at the local dormitory.

They were on their way to a special party, an event that Izzy had been dreading. Tai's interrogation started simply enough, a few questions about Izzy's brooding behavior for the past month. Izzy tried to act cool, pass it off as a simple preoccupation with a project, but Tai wasn't budging.

"Izzy…" Tai repeated.

Izzy sighed and sat down on a park bench. He forced a couple of coughs to buy time. He glanced at his watch; saw that they had plenty of time. Tai wasn't going to give up. Izzy rested his arms on his knees and stared at the ground.

"Don't make me beat it out of ya," Tai started as he landed his hand upon Izzy's head.

Izzy pushed Tai's hand off forcefully, "Tai, your sister…" he cleared his throat, "…kissed me."

The force of the comment caused Tai to overreact to the push and fall back. He landed on the sidewalk and looked up at Izzy, "MY sister? Kari?"

"No, your other sister, jerk," Izzy growled.

Tai jumped up to his feet, "What's the problem with that? Other than it's hard to believe…"

"That's it," Izzy stood suddenly, "I'm going back."

"No, no… stop Izzy, it's just… you and Kari…"

"Yeah, I know. It's impossible," Izzy said dejectedly. He started walking back.

"Izzy, stop." Tai ran and placed his hand on Izzy's shoulder. "I'm sorry, I don't mean it that way."

"Then how do you mean it?" Izzy raised an eyebrow.

"It's a shock, Izz. That's all. How'd it happen?" Tai asked.

Izzy sighed, "She came to me with her computer course. It counted towards her college credits, so she wanted to do well, although she really didn't need my help except with some issues from time to time."

Tai nodded, "yeah, I remember that."

"It was her last day, and we were wrapping up. There really wasn't much for her to do, all her work was in early to begin with. We were more or less just reviewing for her exams. I leaned against the desk where her workstation was and told her that I was positive her work would be exemplary." He paused. "I've replayed these events over and over and I still am caught off guard."

Tai nodded, afraid to say anything that would cause Izzy to clamp up.

"She stood to leave, I bowed my head and she reached up and…" Izzy turned scarlet.

"She kissed you," Tai's eyes widened.

"Yeah."

"What happened after that?"

Izzy shook his head, "it's stupid."

Tai lifted his fist, "Izzy…" he warned.

"I fell down. I was so shocked and caught off guard I took a step back and fell flat on the ground. She started to cry. Then she ran out the door," Izzy stared at his feet. "I was too dumbfounded to go after her." He shook his head, "even if I did, I wouldn't know what to tell her."

"Have you talked to her since?" Tai asked.

Izzy looked up with a wry expression, "no." Tai blinked. "I wasn't even going to come tonight. But, she called. I was assuming she wanted to talk to you, but she asked me to come. Tai, I haven't felt this uneasy since Diaboromon."

Tai chuckled, "girls do that."

"She's not just a girl, she's your sister. She's always felt like a sister to me. I did not see this coming."

"Kari has always had good judgment, Izzy. Everything she does, comes from her heart and is usually the right decision," Tai said. "Why didn't you talk to me about this?"

"Because I knew you would kill me. I swear Tai, nothing happened," Izzy gestured emphatically.

Tai smiled. "I know, and I guess I can respect your reasons for not talking to me about it. Even though we have been best friends since…," he shrugged.

"Promise not to kill me?" Izzy asked meekly.

"I won't kill you, today, Izzy," Tai grinned.

"I can't stop thinking about her and the uh… the…"

"The kiss?" Tai raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah," Izzy sighed.

"You've got to talk to her about it, Izzy."

"That is if she hasn't found someone else. That event occurred over a month ago," Izzy said.

Tai shook his head, "you know that ain't true."

"Yes, I know it did happen more than a month ago."

"Izzy…" Tai frowned. "She hasn't found someone else."

"What makes you say that? Have you noticed that your sister is amazingly beautiful?" Izzy stressed.

"Heh," Tai chuckled, "not really, but then she is my sister." His smile faded slightly, his eyes had a faraway look to them. "But I know what you mean."

Izzy looked up and saw a troubling expression on Tai's face, "Sora?"

Tai cleared his throat the light mood had darkened; "I will kill you if you ever hurt her." He walked passed the red head. A cold breeze stirred around them. Tai felt a chill climb up his spine. At first, he thought it was his imagination, and then realized that Izzy was shivering too. He thought his words were somewhat profound, but not enough to cause a chill in the atmosphere. His senses piqued, he casually studied the area.

He recognized the curiosity in Izzy's expression as he too surveyed the park. The air around Izzy distorted, a scene he had all too known so well in his youth. He ran straight at Izzy, and before Izzy could process what was happening, Tai had shoved Izzy out of the way of a small man that appeared out of nothing. The man looked like an adult even though he had a short stature. He wore a striped suit with a red scarf tied around his head.

"Who are you?" Tai asked.

The man leered and unsheathed a black sword from his side.

"Digimon?" Izzy asked softly.

"What do you want?" Tai demanded. In response, the man swung the sword at Tai. Tai felt a slight sharp pain in his upper left arm, but leaped out of the way. He kicked the man's forearm in an attempt to disarm him. The arm flailed back throwing the sword away. The man smirked at Tai and vanished.

"What in the world?" Tai asked.

"Tai, your suit…" Izzy began.

Tai looked down at the pain in his arm, "Ah man, this was a rental, too." The sword penetrated the suit leaving a cut in the suit, the shirt in the suit, as well as a small skin abrasion. "It's not bad."

"That's unusual," Izzy looked at Tai's arm. Tai shook him off and picked up the sword that landed upon the path.

"Not a big deal," he murmured staring at the black blade. "Does this look familiar?"

"The sword, no, the black material reminds me of the…"

"Dark spires, dark wheels, general dark evil Digimon energy," Tai rattled off.

"I should go run some tests…" Izzy started.

"No, I'm not letting you out of this party that easily," Tai halted him. "Besides, the gang will be there. We should tell them what happened. And you need to talk to my sister." He pulled a white handkerchief from his pocket and wiped off what appeared to be his blood on the sword. He looked at the bloodstain on the cloth, which to Tai's surprise had turned black. He held back his concern, folded the cloth and shoved it in his breast pocket before Izzy could sneak a peek.

Izzy looked up at Tai cautiously, Tai smiled. "Barring any more attacks, the worse you have to worry about is the slow dance."

Izzy's face paled, "Slow… Dance?


	2. Confrontations and Changes

Tai and Izzy arrived at the Kamiya residence, not without some resistance from the shorter red head.

"Now, I remember why I shouldn't have told you," Izzy grumbled.

"Just get it over with. I'm sure once you guys talk it out," Tai paused looking down at his injury.

"What?"

Tai shook his head, "nothing, just my arm started to hurt a little." He knocked on the door and was greeted by the petite, demur, and sweet face of his little sister. Tai smiled, "congratulations, Kari." He pulled her into a big brotherly hug with a couple of strong pats on her back.

Kari coughed. "Tai!" she protested.

Izzy's face turned a couple of shades red, and then blue, and then an odd shade of purple, "congratulations on your graduation, Miss Kamiya." He bowed respectfully.

Kari cocked her head to the side, "Izzy!" She caught him up in a hug, "I'm sorry," she whispered into his ear. "Thank you so much for coming."

Izzy mechanically let go and nodded.

"You okay Izzy? You look like you are going to be sick," T.K. called to him from inside the apartment.

"You might want to ask Kari about that," Tai goaded.

"Tai!" Kari punched his arm.

"Ow!" Tai cradled his arm. His face contorted slightly.

"Hey, what happened?" she peeled his hand off his arm and inspected the site. "What happened? Joe, can you take a look at this," she led Tai into the living area where most of the friends had convened.

"It's nothing," Tai muttered.

"Digimon," Izzy started. "Some weird guy appeared out of nowhere. He attacked Tai with this." Izzy lifted up the sword they had brought with them.

"It's black," Matt said as the group closed in on the item.

"Let me look," Joe pulled Tai back from the group to check on his arm.

"Is it the same material as the spires and the gears?" Sora asked.

"I would guess, but I haven't examined it yet," Izzy replied.

"This can wait, guys. It's my little sister's graduation party. I'm not going to let a new evil Digimon ruin it for her," Tai said forcefully. Everybody stared in silence at Tai.

"What?" he frowned at his friends.

"That's not like you," Davis started. Everybody nodded.

"Priorities, Davis. It is just one night; we will figure it out in the morning. But for now, we need to celebrate. Joe, what's taking so long?"

"Honestly, Tai, I've never seen an injury quite like this," Joe said.

"It's just a scratch, really," Tai looked down at the wound. The original scratch was still there, but there seemed to be a slightly gray black discoloration spreading around it. "Really," he assured Joe. Joe studied Tai's expression. Tai smiled and lifted Joe's hand off of his arm.

"At least let me dress it with a bit of gauze," Joe offered.

Tai nodded. "I'm more angry about the suit…"

The room had become silent. Several of the friends stared at each other sharing their fears with simple glances.

"Matt brought his guitar," Sora offered. "We could do something of a karaoke thing."

"Just don't let Yolei sing!" Davis chimed in followed by a yelp after being shoved.

Tai smiled as the conversation started kicking up. Matt pulled the guitar over his blond locks and strummed a few chords on the guitar. Tai caught Matt sending a grin over to Sora, who nodded knowingly in response. Tai sighed at the exchange. Sora caught a glimpse of Tai's reaction and stood, "sit down, Tai." She pointed to an empty seat on the couch.

Cody and Davis were the first impromptu singers to be volunteered, or rather "voluntold" to perform. Davis rather enjoyed being the center of attention, however Cody needed more encouragement. Tai said down at Sora's insistence and carefully looked around at his friends. Most of them were staring at him and glanced away quickly when they caught Tai's eye.

Matt strummed out a favorite child's song, Davis protested and Cody froze. Everybody started contributing song ideas or suggestions for the singers and the party pulled back into full swing. Tai smiled and said softly, "that's better."

"I think so," Sora responded.

Tai smiled at her, "thank you."

"Of course, don't worry about it."

"Matt's very talented," Tai said awkwardly.

Sora nodded. "So, what's with Izzy?"

Tai chuckled, "poor guy sticks out like a sore thumb, doesn't he?"

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say there was a girl involved," Sora sighed.

"Wow, that's incredibly perceptive," Tai said, impressed.

Sora looked around the room, without any change in expression so as to not add to Izzy's embarrassment, asked, "who?"

"Strangely enough, my little sister," Sora stared at Tai. Tai smiled, "she caught him off balance with a kiss."

"Go Kari," Sora giggled.

"I was kind of surprised," Tai relented.

"Why? Izzy is very sweet," Sora offered.

"I don't know, I figured she'd want someone a bit more exotic," Tai replied.

"Girls don't always want that," Sora smiled.

"That's the tricky part, figuring out what girls want," Tai said. "Sometimes just trying to find out what one girl wants."

"Oh, it's not that difficult Tai," Sora grinned up at Tai.

"Really?" Tai cleared his throat studying Sora's eyes.

Sora cleared her throat, "Tai, uhm… I thought you were over that."

"Same here," Tai let out a long breath staring at the ground. "Is it warm in here?"

Sora shook her head, and looked up at Tai, "no, but you are looking kind of pale, Tai."

"Must be the company," he muttered. Sora raised her eyebrows at him. "I don't mean that, I'm sorry. Here, excuse me a second," Tai apologized quickly.

"Sure," she responded slowly.

She looked up at Matt sharing a concerned expression. Matt shrugged slightly as he accompanied Ken and Yolei on a duet.

Tai ran cold water into the sink of the bathroom, splashing his face several times. He looked at himself in the mirror, "what's wrong with me?" He blotted his face dry taking several deep breaths. He clasped his arm, "it's worse than I thought. Just got to make it until the morning. Got to fight it until the morning…" He walked out mildly refreshed, smiling kindly at the frivolity surrounding Matt and his guitar.

He scanned the room looking for his sister or Izzy. He frowned slightly walking nonchalantly by the adjacent room, which served as a study. He caught a glimpse of Izzy sitting on the floor across his sister. He leaned against the door jam out of sight of the two.

"Izzy, I can't tell you how sorry I am," Kari blushed. "I don't know what came over me, but I don't want to lose your friendship after this. I mean, I understand that if you need time, you need time, but please… please, please, please still be my friend," she gushed.

Izzy stared at the floor, his facial countenance still red, "Kari…" he said softly.

They sat across from each other, staring at the floor. Neither of them was comfortable with the silence. Neither of them was comfortable saying anything. Izzy's mind was going millions of miles an hour, but he couldn't find any words to say.

"I guess I need to get back to the party… it is mine after all," Kari said.

Izzy nodded, but neither of them moved. Finally, Kari made a move to stand.

"Kari," Izzy repeated. Kari stopped and looked at the nervous young man. His throat had turned to cotton. "95 percent of me wants to run out that door. I am not comfortable with people in general, much less,…"

"Girls?" Kari offered softly.

"Yeah," Izzy's eyes widened. "But uh… I can't stop thinking about… about it. I am so useless when it comes to…"

Kari nodded.

Izzy cleared his throat, "you are so beaut…" he stopped, "so amazing, talented, strong, pure…"

Kari's eyes glistened

He looked up at her, "beautiful."

Kari covered her mouth with her hand, biting back the tears as best as she could.

Tai smirked and caught the eyes of several of the digi-destined in the room. He held up a finger to his mouth and motioned his head towards the door.

"Like I said, most of me didn't want to even think about trying. You've always been like a little sister to me. Then there is Davis and T.K. It seemed obvious that you would be more interested in them."

"Izzy," Kari interrupted.

Izzy held up a finger, "What it boils down to, Hikari Kamiya is that I can't get you out of my head." He thought for a minute, "and I kind of like it."

Kari let out a quick breath.

"I don't know what you are looking for, or even if I am what you are looking for. But I want to try. I want to see you more. I want to talk with you more. I want to," he blushed, "kiss you more." Izzy clasped Kari's hand between his hands. "That is… if you are still interested…"

"Izzy," Kari reached out with her other hand and touched his face slightly. She stopped suddenly and looked beyond Izzy. "Should I be selling tickets?"

"Tickets?" Izzy looked behind him to see their friends had all piled into the door jam. Upon being spotted, Davis yelped and the lot of them fell in a jumbled heap on the floor.

"Ow! Davis your knee is in my back!" Yolei complained.

"Get off!" T.K. shouted from beneath the pile.

Each of the group picked themselves up as graceful as possible and gave an embarrassed smile upon leaving the room. Yolei smiled and gave a thumbs-up signal, while others grinned. Sora's smile spread from ear to ear, Matt gave a bemused expression.

Izzy covered his face with his hands, "I hate all of you…"

Tai lingered in the doorway, his arms crossed over his chest, his face light and gentle. "Never knew you were such a poet, Izzy."

Izzy let out a growl of frustration. Tai chuckled and headed out of the room.

"Embarrassed?" Kari asked quietly.

"Yep, new level of utter humiliation," he sighed.

"Perhaps this will help," Kari held his chin up and kissed him gently. Izzy stood, offering his hand to Kari. She accepted and stood up next to him. He wrapped his arms around her waist pulling her close smiling shyly.


	3. Helpless

The rest of the evening remained relatively calm. The friends enjoyed each other, and were abuzz with the excitement of the couple within their group finding each other. Tai found himself fondly reflecting on the past adventures, past insurmountable odds, the triumphs… the losses. He stood silently watching the conversations, the laughter, while he looked deeper into himself. He found it difficult to focus on any one particular moment or train of thought. He watched everything happening in front of him obliviously. He felt slightly light headed and slid down the wall into a sitting position on the floor.

"Tai… Tai?" He heard his name and worked to bring himself to the present. He turned his head to the voice and smirked.

"Hmm?" he raised his eyebrows at T.K.

"You seem a million miles away," T.K. shrugged.

Tai took a deep breath and scratched his head, "Oh, just tired I guess."

"I see," T.K. responded. "How's your arm?"

Tai found he was absently rubbing the injury, "Not bad, actually."

"Good," T.K. replied. "You seem to be in another world."

"Just tired," Tai shook his head.

"Yeah, you said that," T.K. replied unconvinced.

"Yeah, well it must be true," Tai flashed T.K. a brief smile raising his eyebrows and pulled himself into a standing position. He felt the room become a bit warmer than he was accustomed to. He looked around and staggered a little and then clasped onto a nearby kitchen chair catching his balance.

"Woah, Tai," T.K. exclaimed drawing everyone's attention.

Tai smiled thinly, "It's okay, really. My leg fell asleep." The room quieted down, and Tai found all eyes on him. "I'm sorry guys, I just have a lot going on. I will see you later." The heat was beginning to close him in. He felt his head become a bit clearer, as if he had to get used to the altitude of standing and he walked towards the door.

Kari stood and hurried to Tai's side, "are you sure you're okay? You can crash in the bedroom tonight, seriously."

"No, it's fine, I'm just a little warm. I just had a long day," Tai reassured her. "Besides, I don't want to let this affect your party."

"Tai, you're my brother. Ruining my parties is what you are supposed to do," she joked.

"Cute," Tai replied. "Be good, sis. I'm proud of you." He playfully tousled her hair and walked out the door. He took a deep breath and walked slowly down the hall. The cooler outside air provided what he needed for his second wind. He walked cautiously towards the train station taking deep breaths, keeping his head clear. He looked down at his sore arm, pushing up the jacket and shirtsleeve. The cut seemed like nothing extraordinary. He shook his head wondering if anything really happened the way he thought they had. Maybe it was a bizarre allergy that was aggravated by his childhood home. Bizarre allergies that made him hallucinate little men from alternate dimensions. He shook his head.

"Tai," he stopped and turned to see an out of breath Izzy running towards him.

"What are you doing?" Tai asked.

"Kari," he breathed, "sh she asked me to follow you."

"Ah man, no, you should be back there with her," Tai groaned.

"It's okay, people pretty much are packing up and leaving anyway."

"Great, I ruined my sister's party."

"Not really it's been almost 4 hours."

"Really?" Tai frowned. "It seemed a lot shorter."

"You seemed absent the whole time."

"Just lost in my thoughts… or from my thoughts… not quite sure," Tai thought aloud.

"Uh… Okay," Izzy responded. "How's your arm?"

"Wish everybody would just forget about the arm," Tai growled.

"It's kind of hard to, considering the whole neighboring digiworld dimension leprechaun with a long sword, which you left back at your parent's place by the way," Izzy explained.

Tai turned cautiously to face Izzy, "Oh, so it did happen."

"Well, yeah. What's going on?"

"Nothing," Tai turned away. He felt his arm throb. He pushed up his sleeve up again. Blood ran dark and thick down his arm. "Oh," he said and slumped down to the ground slipping into unconsciousness.

* * *

"Tai? Tai!" Izzy called to his friend on the ground. He patted Tai on the cheek trying to snap him awake. "Tai!" he called. He chewed on his lip reaching into his pocket pulling out his cell phone. He furiously pressed buttons placed it up against his ear.

"Joe, it's Tai," he paused, "Yes, this is Izzy, but Tai, he's out cold," he frowned. "On the pavement…" shaking his head in understanding, "Oh, right out by the train station, the one close to the Kamiya residence."

He paused, "What and tell them he was sliced with some sort of dark energy from a neighboring universe?" He sighed, "That's what I thought."

* * *

"Bring him in and lay him on the bed," Joe directed Izzy and Matt dragging a slumped Tai between them.

"What has he been eating?" Matt groaned while they laid him down onto a futon in an apartment Joe shared with his brother, Jim.

Joe bent down his ear close to Tai's mouth. "He's breathing," he mumbled while he put his fingers on Tai's neck. "Pulse seems a bit fast," he looked at his watch. Joe looked up to see Izzy and Matt stare at him. "Uh, put some pillows under his feet. How long has he been out?"

"He's been out the whole time we dragged him here," Izzy replied.

Joe looked at Tai's arm, "here let's get this jacket off." They pulled off the jacket and then ripped the shirtsleeve away. "Wow, you didn't try to stop the bleeding?"

"It wasn't bleeding, at least it wasn't a while ago," Izzy replied.

"Strange," Joe replied. He started tying gauze around his arm pressing down on the wound.

A quiet knock came from the door. Joe nodded to Izzy.

Izzy opened the door to Kari carrying a large white parcel. "Come in."

"How is he?"

"Alive, but unconscious," Izzy answered softly.

"Here's the sword," she said.

"Be careful," came a voice from lower down. Izzy looked down and saw Gatomon walk in. "It seems to rub off easily, look at the sheet."

They unrolled the sword and saw the cloth that had been in contact with the blade turned a dark shade of gray.

"That pierced his skin," Izzy said.

He and Kari shared a solemn look, "don't worry," Izzy soothed, "we'll figure it out."

Kari's eyes glistened as she nodded.

* * *

Kari sat next to her brother, holding his hand in hers. She kept reminding herself to keep being brave. This was her big brother. He was going to pull through. He _had_ to!

"Tai, oh Tai! I need to know what to do! I'm lost without my big brother," she sighed.

* * *

Izzy looked in on Kari from the doorway, feeling helpless, not knowing how to comfort her. He thought for a moment. He turned to Joe, "I've got to go get my computer. I'll be back in an hour."

Joe nodded.

As Izzy headed out the door, he met up with a vaguely familiar face as he rushed off. "Joe, your brother's here!"

"I got the supplies you asked for," Jim said placing the box on the floor.

"Great," Joe dug through the supplies.

"Medical supplies?" Matt questioned, "how did you… ?"

"Don't ask," Joe stopped him mid-sentence.

Matt nodded and smirked. "I didn't think you would ever break a rule, Joe."

"Yeah, well, when the circumstance demands it."

"No, I totally agree. Just good to see you reach out from your comfort zone."

"I'm not going to be comfortable for awhile. This is not good, Matt." He pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. He placed several small glass bottles into his pocket with a couple of syringes. He pulled out an IV bag and disappeared into the adjoining room.

* * *

Izzy returned with his laptop, and his satellite connection. Matt frowned at the object, "It's all in who you know," Izzy answered the pending question. By the time he arrived, Sora and Yolei were in the living area looking concerned.

"Do any of you have your D terminals?"

They nodded looking back at him.

"I'm not sure how I'm going to do this, but I'm going to try to contact with Jenai or even Tentamon."

"So you haven't kept in contact?" Yolei asked.

"No, I've been busy," he muttered. He kept silent while hooking up the power and internet connections. He pulled out a cache of wires from his bag, several with electrical tape.

"What's that? Yolie pointed.

"Digimon devices aren't always compatible, regardless of technical guidelines. Yea, they still haven't required compatibility with dimensional shifts in the R.F.C.'s. So, I've had to make some adjustments." He pulled out a spool of a thin copper wire encased in a clear plastic shell, "I'm still making adjustments." He laid out his tools over the table, using the electrical tape when necessary. Yolei helped when she could, holding this and that.

"Cross your fingers," he cautioned as he powered up his equipment. Everybody crowded behind him.

"PRODIGUS!" he exclaimed as the digital world displayed upon his laptop. "Now to track somebody, anybody," Izzy started typing coordinates from memory, hailing his friends.

"Izzy…" Kari cried from the bedroom doorway.

Izzy looked up, "what's going on?"

"He's gone. Tai has disappeared."


	4. Frustration Driven Determination

Izzy rubbed his eyes for the millionth time. He hadn't gotten any sleep the previous night and it was heading into the afternoon hours. The numbers on the screen were merging together, as he tried different variations to locate somebody, anybody. He couldn't stop, not even for a second. One missed step and he would have to recalculate from the beginning.

"Here," Izzy blinked to see a cup with hot steam rising lazily above it. He looked at Yolei. She held the cup gently towards him. "How are you holding up?"

"I'm fine," he accepted the hot tea gently.

"You need a break," Yolei urged.

"I said, I'm fine," his voice calm but firm. He sipped from the edge of the cup, not removing his eyes from the computer screen.

"Is there something I can help you with?"

Izzy thought for a moment. She certainly was capable enough, but he couldn't budge. "Tea has helped a lot."

"I didn't mean that, and you know it," she replied tersely. "If you find a way in and you are exhausted how good are you going to be for him? Or even, for her," her voice trailed off as she turned toward Kari. She pulled herself into a ball and calmed down enough for her friends to coax her to sleep. Sora dozed on the couch next to her, holding on to her, much like a mother would hold their daughter.

Izzy pressed his lips together, "everything is different. None of the old contact methods have worked. Now… effectively I'm guessing." He shook his head slightly, "I can't detect anything… not even a rodent. I have no idea what's going on.

Poromon hopped up on Yolei's shoulder, "we haven't been back in a while. Things have been busy."

Yolei put a hand on her friends feathered head, "we'll figure it out."

"Dammit!" Izzy slammed on the table where his computer was and stood up. He rubbed his chin. "This is ridiculous," he gestured towards the screen. "There is NOTHING. ABSOLUTELY Nothing! There isn't the slightest pulse, or code, or anything. It's like the digital world vanished. It's like pulling the power cord."

Yolei's eyes widened as she stared at the redhead. She tried to think of something encouraging to say, but she refrained, trying not to anger him further.

Kari and Sora startled awake at his outburst. Kari blinked several times as she rubbed her eyes. "Izzy," she said simply.

He gulped and turned to face her. "I'm sorry. I'll figure out… something," he shook his head. He turned to sit back down, rubbing the back of his neck.

Kari stood slowly and walked over to him, "here, let me." She placed her hands on his shoulders and squeezed.

Izzy sighed and felt himself tense up even more at her touch. "Kari," he reached up for her hand. "Not now, I can't focus."

"Oh," she said softly and she dropped her arms to her side.

Izzy looked back at her, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean…"

Kari shook her head, "just find him."

He nodded in response.

"This is just useless," Matt shook his head. "We can't just sit around her doing nothing," he grumbled.

Ken walked over to Izzy, thoughtfully rubbing his chin, "can I try something?"

"What are you trying?" Izzy responded slightly annoyed.

"When I was the emperor, I was contacted constantly by Oikawa simply through email," he shrugged. "Perhaps we are over thinking it."

"Well, nothing else seems to be working," Izzy grumbled.

"Wait," Ken paused. "Look."

Izzy frowned, "just a pulse." He typed on the computer enhancing and focusing on the signal.

"Izzy! Finally you have answered!"

"Agumon!" Izzy responded.

"Shh, I haven't much time," he exclaimed in hushed tones.

"You don't look that good, are you okay?" Ken asked.

"Quiet, I don't have much time. I'm sending you instructions and coordinates. You will come to what's left of the digital world."

"What's… left?"

"Are you getting my transmission?" He asked ignoring the question.

"Yeah, yeah I got it."

"You have to find three parts of a crystal to open a portal. That portal will take you to Tai. Three of the coordinates are about the location for each crystal. The final is where you will need to go to open the portal."

"What do the crystal parts look like?"

"Look for something familiar…" the transmission cut off. The signal was gone. Everything went quiet.

"What's going on?" Yolei griped. "I thought we were done with this saving the world junk."

"We'll never be done. We were chosen for a reason," Sora reasoned.

"But we were kids," Kari said

"This is something we have to handle now. I'm sure the challenges we had as kids will be different now," Davis reasoned.

Izzy studied the data sent him from Agumon, "I suggest we split up into three teams to go after the parts of the crystal, and have another team stay here."

"Let's makes some preparations and meet back here in an hour," Sora suggested.

"I'll stay and decipher the instructions. The transmission had a lot of static, so I am going to need to sort this out," Izzy said.

* * *

"Matt, Sora, and TK, you take the first set of coordinates. Ken, Yolei, and Davis, here is the second set. Kari and I have the third set. Joe and Cody are staying behind and we'll rendezvous at the fourth location," Izzy instructed. "The only clue to the crystal parts is that it's something 'familiar.'" 

Matt raised an eyebrow at Izzy.

"Your guess is as good as mine," he shrugged.

Davis tapped a device on his wrist, "testing, testing…"

"It works," TK and Kari said in unison.

"I'm hoping the frequency works, I have no idea what Augumon meant about 'what is left' of the digital world," Izzy sighed.

"I made everybody ration and medical packs. I'm hoping we can find things quickly, but you never know," Sora said.

"Okay, are we set?" Everyone nodded tentatively.

Izzy went to his computer, Joe and Cody watching from behind. "Team One, ready?"

"Ready," Matt responded.

A bright blue light emitted from the screen. Sora, Matt, and TK disappeared.

"Team Two?"

Ken nodded, "ready." They disappeared in the same fashion.

"Last set of coordinates." Izzy turned to Joe and Cody, "I'm really counting on you guys, do you understand what you need to do?"

Joe and Cody nodded.

Izzy stepped away and grabbed Kari's hand, "let's go." The light surrounded them causing them to disappear.

* * *

"Oof!" Sora grunted crashing to the sandy rocky ground. 

"At least the way we get here hasn't changed much," TK winced brushing dirt off his clothes.

"It's really quiet," Matt observed.

They looked around. There were small mountains surrounding them, the ground was covered in red sand. Everything looked the same for miles.

"Got any clue on where to start?" Sora asked.

"No, how about that way?" Matt closed his eyes and pointed.

"About as good as direction as any," TK muttered.

* * *

"Dammit Izzy!" Yolei complained loudly. 

Ken offered his hand to Yolei.

"Thanks," she muttered taking his hand.

"It's a forest," Davis said surveying the area.

"Was it the dense trees or the thick grass that gave you that clue?"

"Is she going to be this way the whole time?" Davis rolled his eyes.

"Come on, maybe we'll find a path," Ken pulled out a multi use knife and started clearing away growth.

* * *

"Yuck!" Kari exclaimed. She stood, her lower half soaked. 

"Swampland," Izzy said simply.

"That's what I guessed," Kari pulled several wet leaves off her jeans.

"Is the communicator waterproof?" He shook his wrist.

"You tell me."

"Probably when it's not wet."

Kari raised an eyebrow.

"I'll try when it's dried off," he shrugged.

* * *

"I guess we wait," Joe said. 

"Yeah," Cody responded.

"You aren't much for conversation, are you?" Joe asked.

"Not really," he shook his head.

"Fun."


End file.
